Uddhav Thackeray's call to ailing Raj Thackeray sets rumour mills rolling

In the backdrop of the Sena-BJP alliance falling apart, phone calls from Sena president Uddhav Thackeray to his estranged cousin and MNS chief Raj Thackeray to enquire about his health set rumour mills ablaze on Friday.

Reports said that some leaders from both parties were intent on bringing about a truce between the warring cousins. The parties have an overlapping Marathi manoos agenda.

Uddhav is said to have called Raj, who was unwell and had come back from his tour at Aurangabad, and though MNS sources refused to confirm this, another call is said to have been made on Thursday. Uddhav and Raj were last seen together in 2012 after the death of Sena patriarch Bal Thackeray.

In the 2009 assembly elections, the presence of the MNS in the fray had led to the defeat of the BJP and Shiv Sena candidates in 66 of the 288 seats and worked to the advantage of the Congress and NCP.

MNS sources claimed that the party had put the distribution of nomination papers on hold for a while on Friday. However, Sena sources denied reports of a rapprochement between the cousins and said this was part of the MNS strategy to "confuse Maharashtrian voters when they cannot convince them".

A Sena source said that the party had already announced candidates in constituencies, including those where MNS had sitting MLAs, and there was no question of asking them to withdraw from this high-stakes battle.